Tiempoby
The Command process at the moment seems to involve "core FO's" more than Contractors. It seems enough core guys are willing to take leave of absence to be Contract Capts to fill the vacancies. This is undoubtedly a little bit Union led, although I am not sure how happy the Union are about this. . . so, difficult to see how this will pan out.
I don't at this time know of one Contract FO undertaking Command, it may be happening & I just haven't heard, or met the person, but I believe that is the current status. As Contractors become a higher percentage of the total, this may change, however an added complication is that all "Contractors" are supposed to become "Permanent" & be integrated into one seniority list, this could be a "bad thing" for any Contractor looking for a quick upgrade ( ? )
LGW is a base with BIG expansion foreseen, shouldn't take too long I would imagine, even if you don't get it immediately on joining. They have (Nov/Dec) a 5/4 roster "on trial", hopefully this will work & be an ongoing feature , which may even trickle down to the other contract bases (hopefully)
I have heard that the workload there is amongst the highest of any NAS base, 4 sector fairly long days, not too many nightstops I would guess, but there must be some, as 6 sector days also happen & that must involve going "Ooop Norff" & bouncing around as nothing possible from LGW involving 6 sectors. There was a bit of hassle with many "Early Day1 /Late Day 5 " rosters, haven't heard if the 5/4 has sorted that out , one would hope so.